ARRB talks mining road safety for WA Resources Safety
Recently ARRB’s Manager Mining & Resources, Damir Vagaja was invited as a guest speaker at the WA Resources Safety's Mine Safety Roadshow. Attendees included safety and health representatives, staff responsible for managing occupational health and safety on site, supervisors, managers and employers from mining and exploration companies and service providers across WA.

The show kicked off in Bunbury on 9 October and travelled to Kalgoorlie, Port Hedland and Tom Price before the final presentation in Perth on 23 October.

Damir’s presentation Developing traffic management strategies to reduce risks discussed the complex interactions between various transport infrastructure users in mining and processing operations, such as light vehicles, heavy vehicles and pedestrians. Practical solutions as well as advice on developing management strategies to reduce risks associated with traffic were offered. Visit DOCEP website to view Damir’s presentation.

Better management of mine haul roads
Mine site roads are often designed and constructed by personnel with little or no experience in road design principles. A mining engineer might design a road and a team of dozer and grader operators, normally undertaking production tasks, will be tasked to build roads. Very seldom mine operation will have a formal road design manual in place.

Such road construction practices require very little initial investment and are favoured by mine operators. However, this initial appeal is frequently offset by long-term costs relating to ongoing maintenance, repairs, and, most importantly, compromised safety.

George Giummarra is ARRB's specialist in the design and management of unsealed roads and he developed a Mine Haul Roads Guidelines Manual for a coal mine and a power station in Victoria.

The purpose of the manual was to provide road engineering guidelines, written in a format that is relevant, easy to read and practical, for personnel involved in the design and maintenance of mine haul roads to enable more efficient and effective road operations.

The manual covered: geometric design requirements road pavement design and material selection road construction haul road economics road maintenance techniques road safety considerations asset management requirements road planning and classification categories environmental considerations. A condensed version of these guidelines, referred to as the Field Operators Handbook was prepared for use by field staff. A copy was given to each operator and training was conducted to ensure a good understanding of best practices.

The implementation of the manual will result in long term reduced costs, increased productivity and improved safety for all road users.

For further information on how a similar document can be prepared to reflect the haul road operation of specific mines please contact George Giummarra

Improving safety of concrete trucks
CEMEX Australia (previously known as Readymix) is a supplier of material such as aggregate, concrete and pre-cast concrete products. One of CEMEX Australia’s largest services is the supply of pre-mixed concrete which is transported using a fleet of concrete agitator vehicles.

ARRB has previously conducted investigations into the stability of several concrete agitator vehicles within CEMEX Australia’s fleet. These investigations have provided CEMEX with valuable information regarding the safety-related performance of the vehicles and has helped CEMEX better understand and manage the rollover risk for agitator vehicles.

To complement the work completed by ARRB and to ensure that the knowledge derived is fully utilised, CEMEX has produced a risk awareness training video which has been shown to its people, from management to heavy vehicle drivers.

ARRB contributed expert knowledge on these areas and developed computer-generated animations and simulations which provide a graphical representation of vehicle performance.

In addition to these services, ARRB is also able to provide general consultancy regarding heavy vehicle safety including short workshops for heavy vehicle drivers and operations staff. Contact Anthony Germanchev for more information.